Coil Research

Pottery has been around for most of recorded time. Many pots, in addition to being functional, were also used as “storyboards” to tell about the people and cultures throughout history. Pots were often written on with artwork and very old alphabets that have revealed a great deal about different cultures over the course of history. Not only can pots be constructed on potter’s wheels, poured, and shaped, but they can also be made of coils. Lots of cultures, including the Egyptians, Native Americans, and the Chinese used hand rolled strings of clay to make pots. These pots came in all shapes and sizes and coil pots are still made today.

Painting on the Lord of the jaguar pelt throne vase, a scene of the Maya court, 700-800 AD.

Through the years, Mayan vessels have taken on different shapes, colors, sizes, and purposes. The intense artistic mosaics that grace the walls of the ancient masterpieces reveal stories of rulers, the underworld (Xibalba), Maya creation, and even the particular function of the vessel.

• Form and function:Used for a plethora of daily activities, such as the storage of food and beverages, ceramics were also a canvas of commemoration.

Coil pottery in Kathmandu, Nepal.

Tharu house in Nepal entry room. Rice storage containers right.

Kathmandu, Nepal–Pottery Market

Contemporary pot from Okinawa, Japan.

Burnishing: The surface of pottery wares, most common with coil pots, to smooth the coils out, may be burnished prior to firing by rubbing with a suitable instrument of wood, steel or stone, to produce a polished finish that survives firing.

It is possible to produce very highly polished wares when fine clays are used, or when the polishing is carried out on wares that have been partially dried and contain little water, though wares in this condition are extremely fragile and the risk of breakage is high.

Review the principles of design• Balance

• Emphasis

• Eye Movement

• Pattern/ Rhythm

• Variety

• Harmony

• Unity

and learn about coil pots throughout history

Balance

Through color and form, it creates stability

Van Gogh, The Vase with 12 Sunflowers

Define asymmetrical (informal) balance.

Why is asymmetrical balance more interesting than symmetrical (formal) balance?

Coil cat and mouse teapot by Ashley

Coil chameloen teapot by Phil

The Minoan civilization was a Bronze Age civilization which arose on the island of Crete (south of Greece). The Minoan culture flourished from approximately 2700 to 1450 BC; afterwards, Mycenaean Greek culture became dominant on Crete.

Minoan PotteryPots that contained oils and ointments, exported from 18th century BC Crete, have been found at sites through the Aegean islands and mainland Greece, on Cyprus, along the coastal Syria and in Egypt, showing the wide trading contacts of the Minoans.

"Medallion Pithoi", or storage jars, at the Knossos palace.

Identify the balance in these coil pieces (of which the coils have been smoothed):

A. Minoan pitcher 1

B. Minoan vase 1

C. Minoan pitcher 2

Emphasis– includes point of view, focus. Can be created through placement, space, contrast, color, size, proportion, numbers of things, repetition, direction, movement. There is generally a center of interest (emphasized) in a work, with linked visual elements.

Yellow Minyan Ware cup from Thera

The extremely fine palace pottery called Kamares ware, (cont.)

A. beaked jug from Thera

B. Kamares Ware pithos from Phaistos

C. beaked jug

and the Late Minoan all-over patterned "Marine style" are the high points of the Minoan pottery tradition.

E. Marine Style flask from Palaiokastro

D. stemmed kylix with marine motifs

Where does the oldest pottery in the world come from?

No, not from the Near East, nor indeed from the Middle East. It comes from Japan. It has long been known that the Jomon pottery of Japan goes back a very long way.

Recently however pottery has been found that dates back to 13,000 years ago, which, if you use the latest radiocarbon calibration, gives a date of 16,000 years ago. (or 14,000 BC).

(Jomon means Twisted cord, so this is the pottery made with twisted cord decoration.

Eye Movement–implied movement (vs. action). Can be horizontal, vertical, diagonal, or curvilinear (circular) and can lend to, or create patterns.

An Incipient Jomon pottery vessel reconstructed from fragments (10,000-8,000 BCE), Tokyo National Museum, Japan

A. Jomon pottery vessel

B. Jomon pottery vessel

C. Jomon pottery vessel

Identify the eye movement in these coil pieces:

D. Chip Bowl, Stacie Lowman

E. Xmas coil, Danny Stringfellow

• Pattern– planned is often symmetrical, vs. random, which implies unplanned. • Rhythm can be described as timed movement through space; an easy, connected path along which the eye follows a regular arrangement of motifs. The presence of rhythm creates predictability and order in a composition.

University of Wisconsin, Whitewater, student work

Identify the pattern and rhythm in these coil pieces:

A. Coil cider jug, Vince Pitelka

B. Coil with leaves, Bekah Angus

Variety includes dissonance: abrupt changes, apparent disunity, juxtaposing elements

Identify the variety in these coil pieces:

A. Coil box, Vivian

B. Xmas coil 2, Danny Stringfellow

Harmony includes combining elements of art to create restful composition

Georgia O’Keefe, Oriental Poppies

Identify the harmony in these coil pieces:

A. Coil planter, Bekah Angus

B. Coil pot, Danny Stringfellow

Unity– pulls a piece together, gives it oneness, makes it whole. Can be done through color and/or forms. There is generally a focal point in a work, with linked visual elements.In this painting by Degas, the circle of the girl's back is repeated in the circle of the tub on the floor. The overhanging brush guides our eyes towards the objects on the table, which are arranged as a repetition of the circle.

Identify the unity in these coil pieces:

A. Coil box, WF West student B. Coil pot, Danny Stringfellow

More coil planters by Ms. Angus

1. A soft slab is made and covered on day 1

2. coils added when the slab is leather hard

3. Each day, after scoring, slipping and attaching the coils, the pot is sprayed and covered to equalize the moisture in the clays